Jamsostek to invest more in stock<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Hoping to take advantage of the booming stock market amid rising
\nconfidence among foreign investors, state-owned social security
\nfirm PT Jamsostek is planning to increase its investments in the
\nlocal bourse.<\/p>\n
Jamsostek's newly appointed president director, Iwan
\nPontjowinoto, told The Jakarta Post recently that the company
\nwould increase its investment in stocks to at least 15 percent of
\nits total investment portfolio this year as it believed the
\nbourse would rise even further.<\/p>\n
\"The fundamentals of our bourse are strong. Yields from
\ninvestments in stocks are higher than any other investment
\nportfolio. However, we realize that the risks are also greater.
\nTherefore, we are not going to invest speculatively,\" said Iwan.<\/p>\n
The company's total investments this year were expected to
\nincrease to Rp 40 trillion, he added.<\/p>\n
In 2004, Jamsostek invested Rp 14.1 trillion in bonds, Rp
\n14.37 trillion in bank deposits and Rp 3.44 trillion in stocks,
\nmutual funds and other securities.<\/p>\n
With such a huge amount of funds under its management,
\nJamsostek is the only local institutional investor that is
\ncapable of acting as a key mover of the stock market, with most
\nother movers being foreign based investment banks and securities
\nhouses.<\/p>\n
In fact, due in part to the massive amount of funds at its
\ndisposal, Jamsostek has often suspected of helping jack up the
\nprice of shares in state firms before they were sold through
\ninitial public offerings or secondary offerings.<\/p>\n
Suspicions are also rife that Jamsostek has been acting as a
\nbuffer for the government by engaging in aggressive buying to
\nkeep the stock market index from falling whenever serious
\nnegative sentiment sets in.<\/p>\n
Responding to the accusations, Iwan said that he was not aware
\nof such practices, and gave assurances that he would not
\nencourage any form of investment that was not in line with making
\nprofits on behalf of those insured by the company.<\/p>\n
\"Our investments will not be used for practices that could
\ncause losses to our investable funds. Our funds will only be
\ninvested in safe portfolios over the long term,\" he stressed.<\/p>\n
Iwan said that he would soon revise the makeup of the
\ncompany's investment strategy in order to gain maximum profits,
\nwith most of the funds likely to be invested in bonds issued by
\nthe government and private sector.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot elaborate as yet on the new composition of our
\nportfolio, but the greater part will certainly be in the form of
\nbonds,\" said Iwan, who is an expert on information technology.<\/p>\n
The company has said it plans to buy more government bonds
\nthis year to help plug the state budget deficit.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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